Collectors’ Corner

Steiff’s story began with something made for a sewing table. In 1880, Margarete Steiff followed a fashion-journal pattern to sew a small felt elephant intended as a pincushion. Children adopted it as a toy. The company’s early range soon included other felt animals: donkeys, horses, camels, pigs, mice and giraffes. Richard Steiff’s jointed plush bear belonged to a later chapter, in 1902. The elephant also appeared on the original button-in-ear…